Aug 26, 2008

Oh my blog readers- I am so sorry, I have really procrastinated for too long not posting as often as I wish I could! It's just that these months of July & August feel so "vacation-ey" and thus I self-declared myself a break from blogging (even though to be honest, I haven't really had that much of a summer holiday, just 1 week in July in Greece and 1 long weekend in Italy- which I am writing about today). I promise however that I will start getting more regular with blogging because in the meantime I have been cooking a LOT- one thing I know for sure is that no matter what, I will always love and enjoy cooking! In the meantime however, I wanted to share some photos from a recent trip I did. Here in France, we had the 15th Aug off (as many other countries too) so 3 day weekends for me are synonymous with get-aways... and if possible, to my favourite country: Italy! And so that is what I ended up doing with a very good friend of mine. Off we were: 2 young ladies discovering South Italy, precisely Sorrento & Capri. It was a short trip, but ever since I had been to Naples last year I had always wanted to discover Sorrento. Not so much Capri though because it just seems too "bling-bling" and "commercial", but since it's only a 20 min boat ride from Sorrento I thought, ah what the heck, I might as well check it out! So here are some of the things I saw (to see more photos, you can check out my Flickr stream):

Above: View of Sorrento, as we headed off to Capri. Below: Street shots in Sorrento with visual cues that I adored, for instance the laundry and the gazillions of "ti amo" love declarations written on the walls (which I also saw a lot of in Napoli!).Above left: an absolutely beautiful church on Piazza Tasso in Sorrento. I loved the colours, unfortunately though I don't remember the name! Above right: near Marina Piccola, SorrentoAbove & Below: Of course, truthful to myself, I ate a lot of gelati! From flavours such as strawberry yoghurt & nutella (left) and limoncello & tiramisu (right) , we kept hunting down all the ice-cream places, until one day we bumped into what had to be the coolest gelato place I have ever seen in Italy- on Corso Italia (Sorrento) there was a shop that served up to 70 different flavours, with people queuing up until the weehours of the night! Inside, every cm of the wall was covered with photos of celebs who had been there. Everything looked delicious, it took me ages to decide on what flavours to select!Above & Below: Marina Grande, Sorrento.Above: very random indeed, but I had to take a photo of the cutest police car ever (in Sorrento) and below: the cutest coloured scooter (in Sorrento)And you know what is so funny- in Italy everything tastes so different! I'm talking about the stuff that you can find back home, like cheeses and coffee for instance. I have to say that my best Italian culinary experience so far had been in Naples, but down in Sorrento & Capri I was not dissapointed! Even our morning cappuccino's that we sipped away on in Capri tasted fabulous! A cappuccino in Paris will never equal the one I had below!Delicious pastries, including the famous speciality common to Southern parts of Italy: baba (like the baba au rhum in France, it's just presented differently)Of course I was expecting to see lots of hot peppers in Sorrento, and knew that a Caprese in Capri was a must! The mozzarella tasted totally different to what now seems to be "plastic cheese" mozza I eat here! Has anyone noticed how mozzarella tastes so much better in Italy? Or is it just me?And it goes without saying that I had to have cannoli too- because it is by far one of my favourite sweets in the world! Even though summer is not exactly the best time for a cannolo, but my tastebuds were indifferent to that!Generally, in both Sorrento & Capri there was a lot of lemon-y stuff in each and every corner, from limoncello to granitas, to lemon coloured buildings and scooters!Above: Capri from afar. Below: Capri up closer!Above: me enjoying the view of Capri below, and with tired legs as we did a CRAZY uphill walk from the port to reach the center! After finally reaching the top, we realized that there were buses (at least I think there were...) that could had taken us up there... but on the other hand, the walking was some good exercise and might had done some good to my thighs! Isn't that why I go to the gym for anyway?

As I was saying above, to reach the center- if you chose to walk it- there is an uphill path with plenty of houses of which most have dog/warning signs. Most were regular, but the one below made me laugh (although I think it should scare me more then anything else!)

But of course, all good things come to an end (gees, why does it have to be that way?!),below: the view from the plane (I always sit near windows on flights!) with Napoli & the Vesuvius below.

So what can I say? Italy never dissapoints me. Sorrento & Capri are wonderful places, although I do have a slight preference for Sorrento- it just seemed more "Italian" with a more authentic feel. The people there were incredibly friendly- it's true I was only there for a weekend, but I would had loved to stay a bit longer just because of the people's warmth there! It's a small city, so it doesn't need that many days to visit, but you know what they say- sometimes it's just the people that make you fall in love with a place!

I am already thinking about my next Italian destination- maybe Bologna or Cinque Terre- not sure yet! I don't want to sound too Italy-obsessed here, but I have to say it's the country I've dreamt most about my whole life (and it's just quasi-next door to France!), and after each trip I just love the country more and more, and feel more determined to move and live there one day! But until then, I will keep exploring this beautiful country, enjoy hearing it's beautiful language and it's beautiful people!

ABOUT THIS BLOG

I started Swirl & Scramble because ever since I was a child I enjoyed transforming my kitchen dreams into a reality. Whether it be spontaneous culinary improvisation or well kept family secrets, from savoury to sweet, I needed a place to capture and share these moments. I'm a a curious self-taught cook but have had some basic knowledge at the prestigious Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne and an incredible training experience in the kitchens of the lavish Hotel de Crillon in Paris, France.

I've lived in Greece, Switzerland, France and am now in the NYC area which is a real treat for a culinary lover like myself. In the meantime, I try to travel as much as I can. Most of my travel photography is on my Flickr stream.

You may notice that many of my recipes are of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern influence...the fact is that these origins run in the family and I pretty much grew up on olive oil, onions and garlic!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the recipes!

Photography is done by myself, MariannaF, unless otherwise stated.

If you are interested in using any of my recipes or photos, please ask- just leave a comment and I will e-mail you right back.

Thank you!

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